As a Research subject, Lector has proven most disappointing.
Posted by Monkeymanx in Movie ReviewA few months back I read Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. I decided to give it a shot because I saw a few minutes of Manhunter on TV. If you are not familiar with the movie history of Hannibal Lec(k)tor, it goes something like this Manhunter, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon, Hannibal Rising. Candy and I decided to watch Manhunter and Red Dragon this past weekend and compare the two.
Manhunter was made in 1986, and it was based on the novel Red Dragon. In this film, William Petersen plays the protagonist of Will Graham. Graham is a retired FBI profiler who was known for making impossible mental leaps to catch serial killers. On of the more famous ones he caught was Hannibal Lecktor (that was how it was spelled in this movie, in all the subsequent movies it is spelled Lector). So Graham is brought out of retirement to catch one more serial killer, since the FBI has no way of figuring out how he chooses his victims. That is the basic plot and premise of the novel and the 2002 film Red Dragon.
Manhunter was made in the middle of the 1980′s a time when men wore hot pink, neon was the light of choice and studio musicians filled up soundtracks. Manhunter has all of that, horrid fashion, cheesy music, weird sets that don’t really make sense and really bad music. The only song that is not bad is In-a-gadda-da-vida, the rest of the music is crap, and seems WAY out of place. If you pulled the music from the movie (except In-a-gadda-da-vida, it actually serves a purpose) the movie would be tons better. The acting is not bad, for the cast of B listers. I liked Peterson (now more well know for being on CSI) as Graham, I thought Brian Cox did some scenes as Lecktor better than Anthony Hopkins did then as Lector in Red Dragon. And Tom Noonan was a very creepy Dollarhyde (aka the bad guy). The problem is that the movie drags out and is not well paced. At the end, it deviates from the book, and has a Hollywood ending, that feels like it was just put on there to put the movie goer out of their misery and let them go home. The movie deviates from the book in several places, yet in others it stays true to form.
Red Dragon, made in 2002 does a much better job of sticking to the book. Sure there are some deviations, but not nearly as many as Manhunter. This updated version has more subtle music that doesn’t jump out at you and say “Hey! You remember that crappy music you danced to at the Junior High “prom”, you know the stuff you tried to slow dance with Jane Whatshername, while you not so slyly ran you and over the back of her dress seeing if you could feel a bra, and if so where the clasp was in the very slim chance you might get to try to unclasp it later. That’s me, I’m that music!” Also the caliber of actor’s has gone up. Anthony Hopkins returns to play Hannibal Lector, even though this movie is set before Silence of the Lambs. Edward Norton plays Graham this time around. Even though I generally like Edward Norton, I found Peterson as a more believable Graham. Ralph Fiennes is a less creepy but more psychotic Dollarhyde. And Harvey Kietel replaces Dennis Farina as Crawford, the FBI man who draws Graham back in.
One thing that deviates from the novel is the beginning of the movie, where the audience is shown how Graham catches Lector. The rest of the movie follows the book very well. The acting, is good, if a little stiff in a few places. Unlike Manhunter, Red Dragon is very well paced, and an all-round better movie. There were some parts of the story (in both movies) that do not seem plausible (e.g. Candy pointed out that getting a finger print from a human eye was very unlikely. Since she used to work in a crime lab, I defer to her.)
I’d recommend Red Dragon over Manhunter if you want to see a good movie based on Thomas Harris’ book. But if you are looking for something that will remind you of the glory days of Miami Vice, check out Manhunter.
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